"Their plan as we're seeing it right now is to cause widespread, sporadic problems in very different places throughout the city to sort of draw out our police resources," Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Kathy Degler said. "We're aware of that, and we're working on everything we can to keep the businesses safe."
Two dozen business operators peppered police officials from the city, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh with questions during a roundtable discussion organized by the Oakland Business Improvement District.
Degler said anti-capitalist groups might target the stores of major corporations such as Starbucks, McDonald's, The Gap and Banana Republic. Protesters spray-painted the fronts of The Gap and Starbucks on Walnut Street in Shadyside with anti-Group of 8 slogans when that economic summit was held in Germany in 2007.
CMU Lt. Gary Scheimer said police are aware of an unauthorized protest march to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center that is set to start at noon Sept. 24 at the corner of 40th Street and Penn Avenue.
He expects it to cause a massive traffic disruption.
CMU plans to add 15 to 20 officers to its 25-member force beginning Monday to patrol the campus.
Pitt will have 68 officers working 12-hour shifts beginning next Tuesday, Cmdr. Francis Walsh said. City police have committed 100 officers to patrol Oakland during the week of the G-20 economic summit, which runs Sept. 24 and 25.
Walsh said business owners should be cautious but didn't say they should close. He advised businesses to schedule delivers for early in the week.
"What you don't want is, for a lack of a better term, squatters coming into your business, your restaurant ... and using your business place as their house for a couple days," he said.
Walsh said he expects a large group of protesters to gather Sept. 24 on Frew Street to protest the arrival of some G-20 delegates visiting the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.
Another march that begins at noon Sept. 25 at the intersection of Craft, Forbes and Fifth avenues likely will cause large traffic tie-ups, Walsh said.
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